Today, email may be used as a general tool for broad collaboration. Email has led to an explosion of messaging in which many people are copied/respond and use this mechanism to e.g., communicate, and share content. However, the mechanisms that we have to send, receive and process email and content therein do not lend themselves to collaboration.
For example, the explosion of messaging has resulted in situations where codependent technologies represent an obstacle to effective collaboration. Specifically, the association of a link in an email with document libraries, team rooms, or content within databases is a very powerful capability that allows an email recipient to select a link that in turn brings them to a central repository that stores the information referenced. This, in turn, keeps email messages short and concise, thus reducing duplication and unnecessary propagation of content.
Unfortunately, due to the mobility of today's workforce, email recipients often respond to email while offline (i.e., not connected to the email server/internet). Unfortunately, during such an offline condition, the data pointed to by the above-described links embedded within the email may not be accessible.